Category Archives: Political Commentary

Tone Deaf

Reason number 5,352 why Hillary probably is unelectable:

“I also want to send a message, if we ever do have to take more drastic action, to the rest of the world that we exhausted all possibilities,” said Clinton, who earlier rapped President Bush for refusing to engage Tehran.

Clinton’s remarks at the Marriott Marquis were met with little applause , and after she left the stage, several people said they were put off by the presidential candidate.

“This is the wrong crowd to do that with,” said one person at the dinner, noting the pro-Israel crowd wanted to hear tougher rhetoric.

“Libertarian Conservatives”

Arnold Kling (with whom, among many others, I talked last weekend at the Conservative Summit) has an interesting post, though I’m not sure I agree with the taxonomy. I’ve never thought of myself as a conservative, and still don’t, really, but I agree with most of the principles he lays out in what he calls an Ideological Affirmation Task Force Request for Comment, or IATF RFC.

[Update]

OK, for the clueless commenters who insist not only that I’m a conservative, but (even more foolishly and laughably, as though they can read the minds of the masses) that everyone agrees that I am, with the exception of me, I’m sure that they can confidently tell me my positions on:

  • gay marriage
  • gay civil unions
  • whether homosexuals are born or made
  • whether ID should be taught along with evolution in science classes
  • human cloning
  • whether abortion should be legal
  • whether or not there’s a god
  • pornography censorship
  • blue laws
  • drug legalization

In other words, people who mindlessly call me a conservative, or “right winger” cherry-pick their litmus paper types to only judge me on the issues that they choose to, in order to declare my “obvious” conservatism. That’s why I have zero respect for their opinions in such matters.

“Libertarian Conservatives”

Arnold Kling (with whom, among many others, I talked last weekend at the Conservative Summit) has an interesting post, though I’m not sure I agree with the taxonomy. I’ve never thought of myself as a conservative, and still don’t, really, but I agree with most of the principles he lays out in what he calls an Ideological Affirmation Task Force Request for Comment, or IATF RFC.

[Update]

OK, for the clueless commenters who insist not only that I’m a conservative, but (even more foolishly and laughably, as though they can read the minds of the masses) that everyone agrees that I am, with the exception of me, I’m sure that they can confidently tell me my positions on:

  • gay marriage
  • gay civil unions
  • whether homosexuals are born or made
  • whether ID should be taught along with evolution in science classes
  • human cloning
  • whether abortion should be legal
  • whether or not there’s a god
  • pornography censorship
  • blue laws
  • drug legalization

In other words, people who mindlessly call me a conservative, or “right winger” cherry-pick their litmus paper types to only judge me on the issues that they choose to, in order to declare my “obvious” conservatism. That’s why I have zero respect for their opinions in such matters.

“Libertarian Conservatives”

Arnold Kling (with whom, among many others, I talked last weekend at the Conservative Summit) has an interesting post, though I’m not sure I agree with the taxonomy. I’ve never thought of myself as a conservative, and still don’t, really, but I agree with most of the principles he lays out in what he calls an Ideological Affirmation Task Force Request for Comment, or IATF RFC.

[Update]

OK, for the clueless commenters who insist not only that I’m a conservative, but (even more foolishly and laughably, as though they can read the minds of the masses) that everyone agrees that I am, with the exception of me, I’m sure that they can confidently tell me my positions on:

  • gay marriage
  • gay civil unions
  • whether homosexuals are born or made
  • whether ID should be taught along with evolution in science classes
  • human cloning
  • whether abortion should be legal
  • whether or not there’s a god
  • pornography censorship
  • blue laws
  • drug legalization

In other words, people who mindlessly call me a conservative, or “right winger” cherry-pick their litmus paper types to only judge me on the issues that they choose to, in order to declare my “obvious” conservatism. That’s why I have zero respect for their opinions in such matters.

State Of The Union

Well, when the evil Republicans controlled the Hill, it was horrible, but now that the Dems have taken over Congress, everything is wonderful, as commenters noted, though nothing else has changed, and despite the fascist bible-thumper still in the White House.

Here’s the speech I’d like to hear tonight, but I’m sure I won’t. Eli Lake has some further thoughts on what the president should say, and the Dems, who want to eat their cake and have it, too:

Now there are good reasons as to why the Democrats are so incoherent about the war. Their foreign policy masks an uneasy alliance between the party’s anti-war left that resents and seeks to restrain American power, and Bush I “realists” who seek to define and wield the nation’s power as ruthlessly as possible. Call it the McGovern-Scowcroft pact. It’s based on disagreement about big questions on American hegemony and agreement on smaller ones, such as the United Nations, Israel, and the venality of neoconservatives.

Hence Secretary of State Baker today is more influential among congressional Democrats than Secretary of State Albright. The George W. Bush presidency is the only thing that can bring these two tribes together. Anti-war Democrats opposed what they saw as a preemptive war for oil, whereas the realist critics of the war opposed it because they couldn’t understand what Iraqi freedom had to do with our national interest. A war for oil is just the sort of thing realists say nations ought to be fighting.

I wish we had better choices.